Refrigerator cabinet



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1... GITBERGSTRO'M 2,394,229

REFRIGERATOR CABINET Filed April 2, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet Z WITNESsES: INVENTOR W F76. LRWRENCE G. BERGST'ROM.

a- BY WK.

ATTOR 1.. G. BERGSTROM. 2,394,229

REFRIGERATOR CABINET Feb. 5, 1946.

Filed April 2, 1 42 2 She ets-Sheet 2 wnuy-zssss: INVENTOR LRWRENCE' Q. BERGSTROM fi /W I 7 BY zdaigli ATTO Patented Feb. 5, 1946 REFRIGERATOR CABINET Lawrence G. Bergstrom, Mansfield, Ohio, assignor to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application April 2, 1942, Serial No. 437,333

3 Claims.

This invention relates to refrigerator cabinet construction and more especially to a means for supporting the inner liner in a refrigerator cabinet and to a method for constructing said supporting means. v

The inner or food liners of domestic-mechanical refrigerators are usually formed of sheet metal and are then heavily coated with a white vitreous enamel. The enamel is brittle and may craze orchip if any portion of the metal is distorted. Such crazing or chipping frequently occurs at the points of support of the food liner when these points are stressed during assembly or shipment of the refrigerator.

It is accordingly an object of this invention to support the inner liner of a domestic refrigerator in such manner that crazing or chipping of the vitreous enamel of the liner is substantially eliminated.

Another object of the invention is to support the inner liner of a refrigerator at points capable of withstanding the supporting stresses.

A further object of the invention is to provide deformable supports for the inner liner of a refrigerator which supports adapt themselves to the irregularities of the structure and cushion the shocks and distortions transmitted to the inner liner from the outer shell of the refrigerator.

A still further object of the invention is to provide supports'for the inner liner of a domestic refrigerator which form an integral part of the inner liner, do not interfere with the enameling process of the liner, and expedite the assembling of the inner liner in the outer shell.

Yet another object of the invention is 'to provide a method for constructing the inner liner and its supporting hangers of the refrigerator.

These and other objects are eifected by the invention as will be apparent from the following description and claims taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part of this application, in which:

Fig. 1 is a View of a domestic refrigerator cabinettwith a portion of the heat breaker strip and of the flange of the food liner removed to show the support of the inner liner;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the hand corner of the cabinet;

Fig. 3 is a view on the line III-III of Fig. 2 but with the heat-insulating material of Fig. 2 removed and with portions of the inner liner upper leftbroken away; and

Fig. 4 is a view of the corner of the food liner and the attachment flange as viewed from the line IV-IV of Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings for a description of the invention, the reference numeral it designates the outer metal shell of the food-storage chamber of a domestic-mechanical refrigerator. The front edge portion of the outer shell i0 is bent inwardly to provide a door jamb ii, is then bent inwardly and flat against the door jamb to reinforce the same, then backwardly a short distance l2 along the inner wall of the outer shell, and then at right angles parallel to the door jamb H to provide an attachment flange l3. This construction also provides a groove M in which one edge of the heat breaker strip 15 is lodged.

The access opening of the outer shell it is rectangular and at each of the four corners of the opening, a gusset I6 comprising a diagonal strip of metal is spot welded at ii to the attachment flange it. The central area l8 of the gusset i5 is offset rearwardly and is provided with a deep notch It, the edge of which is bent inwardly to form a reinforcing flange 2]. The inner surfaces of the top, bottom, side, and rear walls of the outer shell ii] are lined with matted heatinsulating material .22, and a rectangular inner liner 23 is inserted in the outer shell it with the corners 26 of the inner liner 23 lying in the notched portions iii of the gusset it. The edge portion of the inner liner 23 is turned outwardly to form flanges 20.

The inner liner 23 is supported within the outer shell It by four hangers 26. Each hanger 24 is formed of sheet steel by bending a flat plate of steel to provide three flat portions 32, 21, and 28, each of which is at right angles to the other two. Two of the flat portions 32 and 27 form an angle and the portion 28 forms a flange on each of the fiat portions 32 and 21. The two flat portions 32 and 21 are spot welded at 3! to a corner of the into two attachment ears 32 and each of the ears 32 is provided with a hole 42.

After the inner liner 23 is assembled in the outer shell Ill, holes 43 are drilled in the gusset it to register with the holes 42 of the hanger 2d, a heat-insulating washer M is inserted between the ear 32 and the gusset i8, and a sheet metal screw is inserted through the 'hole 32 and washer i4 and is screwed into the hole 43 to secure the inner liner 23 in place. The ears 32 of the hangers 24 are deformable within limits to engage the respective gussets even though minor inaccuracies in manufacture occur. Such deformations'do not crack the vitreous enamel nates this trouble. The distance should not be' less than four times the wall thickness of thev inner liner 23.

The hanger 24 is spot welded to the inner liner 23 before the vitreous enamel coating is formed thereon so that the enamel covers the weld marks. The hanger 2! is further formed of sheet metal which is sufilciently thin to avoid setting up temperature stresses during the cooling of the inner liner which may cause cracking of the enamel.

A supplemental supportfor the inner liner 23 is located on each side wall thereof. Each of these supports comprises a strip of rigidheatinsulating material 29, one end of which is attached to the flange l3 and the other end of which is attached to a metal strip 30 spot welded to the flange 20 of the inner liner 23.

The heat breaker strips i5 which close the insulating space between the inner liner 23 and the outer shell ID will now be described, but form no part of this invention. The flange 20 of the inner liner 23 lies substantially in the same plane with the attachment flan e I3 of the outer shell It. An s-shaped finishing strip I1 is hooked to the flange 20 and a heat breaker strip l5 of nonmetallic material is inserted to cover the heatinsulating material 22 and is held in place by the groove l4 and the s-shaped finishing strip ll. The edges between theheat breaker strips l6 are covered by a corner clip 48.

It will be apparent from the above that this invention provides supporting hangers for a reirigerator inner liner, which liner is coated with brittle vitreous enamel and that the hangers support the inner liner at points of inherent structural strength of the inner liner. Furthermore, the hangers are deformable within limits to adapt themselves to irregularities of the structure and to cushion the shocks which are transmitted to the inner liner from the outer shells.

While I have shown my invention in but one form, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various changes and modiflcatoins without departing from the spirit thereof, and I desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereupon as are specifically set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In refrigerator cabinet construction comprising an outer shell and a rectangular sheet metal liner located within the outer shell, said liner having an open vertical front, the novel means for supporting the front portion of said liner from said outer shell comprising a plurality of sheet metal hangers, each of said hangers being formed into an angle, said angle being positioned to straddle one of the horizontal edges of said rectangular liner and fused to said liner to reinforce the straddled portion of the same, said hanger having a flange at its forward edge, said flange lying near but spaced from the front edge of said rectangular liner a distance equal to at least four times the thickness of the sheet metal from which said liner is formed, said liner being coated with vitreous enamel after the hanger is fused thereto and means for securing said flange to said outer shell.

2. In refrigerator cabinet construction comprlsing an outer shell and a. rectangular sheet metal liner located within the outer shell, said liner having an open vertical front, the novel means for supporting the front portion of said liner from said outer shell comprising a plurality of hangers, each of said hangers comprising sheet metal of a thickness not exceeding three times the thickness of the wall of the liner, said sheet metal being formed into an angle, said angle being positioned to straddle one of the horizontal edges of said rectangular liner and fused to said liner to reinforce the straddled portion, said hanger having a flange at its front edge, said flange lying near but spaced from the front edge of said liner a distance equal to at least four times the thickness of the sheet metal from which said liner is formed, said liner being coated with vitreous enamel after the hanger is fused thereto and means for securing said flange to said outer shell.

3. In refrigerator cabinet construction, the combination of an outer shell having a rectangular opening lying in a vertical plane, an inner rectangular liner having top, bottom, side, and rear walls within said outer shell, an access opening formed in the front of the inner liner, an outwardly-turned flange provided on the inner liner peripherally of the access opening, hangers for the inner liner, each of said hangers comprising a metal plate formed into an angle portion and a flange on said angle portion, said angle portion straddling a. horizontal edge formed by vtwo of the walls of the inner liner and being secured directly to the straddled portion of said walls to reinforce said portion, said last-named flange lying parallel to the plane of the access opening and near to but spaced from the flange on the inner liner, said inner liner being coated with vitreous enamel after said hangers are secured thereto, members secured to the outer shell at the corners of its opening and means for securing the flanges of the hangers to said members.

LAWRENCE G. BERG'STROM. 

